Where Black Sand and Hogwarts Meet
by HikaruAmethyst
Summary: Mozenrath is a new teacher at Hogwarts, but he has an alterior motive. Set two years after the epilogue of the last Harry Potter book.
1. Chapter 1

*******Author's Notes*******

I don't like to change things that happened in-universe, so this story takes place when Harry's youngest daughter starts at Hogwarts. It'll be hard to bring in some of the characters from the books, but I am trying my best. I plan on bringing some of the dead back as ghosts, but it's a matter of who would and wouldn't hang around Hogwarts. And of course, there's the portraits in the Headmaster's office. ;)

I haven't decided yet if Al and Jas will be in this fanfic. If they will, it will be in later chapters. I do take suggestions if any of you have any good ones.

It was a rather dreary afternoon for mid August. Clouds hung overhead as though a downpour could happen any minute. The winds weren't harsh, but they weren't calm either. The grounds seemed deserted when he arrived. He was dressed in dark robes of blue and black, trimmed with gold. On his head, he wore a blue and grey turban with a garnet in the center, and on his right hand, he wore a brown gauntlet. His complexion was rather pale, suggesting that he came from a place that got little sunlight. He walked quickly, his steps full of purpose as he reached the castle-a large dark castle somewhere in Scotland. If he hadn't been a wizard, he would've seen a bunch of ruins surrounded by "Warning" and "Danger" signs. Nearby, a grey eel flew, darting in and out of trees, and looking around before following his master.

As he neared the entrance of the castle, he was greeted by a man twice his height with dark messy hair-now peppered with grey-and a full beard. "Ye must be Mozenrath," he said.

Mozenrath snarled at the jolly giant. "I am." He responded. He wondered if he should bother being nice at all. The wizard didn't care much for giants and it seemed like a waste of energy.

"Rubeus Hagrid," the giant said extending one of his large hands. "Professor Libeccio's been expectin ye."

Mozenrath looked at the large hand and chose to just nod at Hagrid. "Excellent. Where can I find him?"

"In the Headmaster's office," Hagrid told him. "I'll take ye to 'em."

"Lead on," Mozenrath said, almost sarcastically.

"Lead on!" Xerxes repeated, flying into a circle and then following the two men.

The two men walked on in silence-one thinking that conversing with a giant was a complete waste of time, and the other not sure how to address this newcomer without seeming offensive.

Since this was still the summer holidays, the school was pretty empty, save for the ghosts that moved around the place.

Suddenly, ice cold water came down from the ceiling and right onto Mozenrath. The sorcerer whirled around, ready to fry whoever would dare try such a thing. Nearby, hovering in the air, doubled over with fits of laughter was a different sort of ghost-a poltergeist, who was dressed in vibrantly-coloured clothing. "You shoulda seen your face!" the poltergeist laughed. "When you turned-hahahahaha-"

"How DARE you-" Mozenrath started.

"Ah, don' mind Peeves," Hagrid cut in. "He was just havin' a bit o' fun, he was."

Peeves floated over to Mozenrath and made a loud sound that could've been mistaken for flatulence. "Ew! What've you been eating?" he laughed.

"Alright, Peeves," Hagrid said, noting the fire in Mozenrath's eyes. "That'll be enough. Do I need ter 'ave a chat with the Bloody Barron?"

"NOOOOOOOO!" Peeves cried, flying down the hall.

Xerxes hovered in the air laughing, until he received a glare from his master.

"Who's the Bloody Baron?" Mozenrath asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Why, the only one 'ere who can control Peeves. Use ter be Dumbledore could control 'im, too, but that was afer he died. He don't hang around Hogwarts like some of 'em do. He's moved on." A tear escaped the half-giant's eye. Even now, more than twenty years later, he still missed the former Headmaster of Hogwarts.

The two continued on until they came to a stone gargoyle.

"Primavera," Hagrid said to the stone statue. No sooner had he said this than the wall opened to reveal a set of stairs which led up to the Headmaster's office.

When they reached the Headmaster's office, they were greeted by a wizard with grey hair and a mustache to match. He was about six feet tall and wore black robes that looked like they were made from expensive material. "You must be Mozenrath Shamash," he said with a thick accent, though his English was very fluent. "I'm Carmello Libeccio, the headmaster."

"Pleased to meet you," Mozenrath said.

Behind Mozenrath, Hagrid gave a snort of disapproval. This new professor hadn't been quite so warm towards him. "If ye'll excuse me," he said to Professor Libeccio, "me blast-ended skrewts are needin' ter be fed, so I'll be goin' now."

Professor Libeccio nodded to show this was ok. "Thanks, Rubeus," he said as Hagrid left the office. Then he turned his attention back to Mozenrath. "It's good to finally meet you in person," he said. "I hired you for this position because out of all the applicants, you stood out to me. I think you'll be a good addition to our staff at Hogwarts."

"I'm looking forward to filling the position," Mozenrath said.

"That's good to hear," Professor Libeccio said. "Defense Against The Dark Arts is an important subject to learn, and should be taught in the right way."

"I agree," Mozenrath smiled. "And I promise to make quite the impact."

"Quite the impact," Xerxes repeated, flying up to his master.

Outside, the clouds finally poured their rain over the Hogwarts grounds, and a rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance.

A few weeks later, at King's Cross Station, the platform was filled with students on their way to Hogwarts and their parents seeing them off. Lily Luna Potter gave her parents one last hug.

"It seems like it was yesterday when James was headed off to Hogwarts," Ginny Potter said, returning her daughter's hug. "And now all three of my babies are Hogwarts students." Mrs. Potter wiped a tear from her eye.

"Oh, Mom," Lily said, "I promise that I'll write. And I'll be coming home for Christmas."

"We'll be counting on it," her father, Harry Potter said. When he was a student at Hogwarts, he didn't have much of a home to go to for Christmas, so he and his wife always made sure that their children had a good Christmas with family.

"And you," Mrs. Potter addressed her eldest son James Sirius now. "I don't want to receive any owls about exploding grapefruits or vomiting toilets."

"Actually," James said, trying not to laugh at one of his best pranks, "I made the grapefruits vomit."

"The point," Mrs. Potter said, "is that there's a time and place for pranks."

"I'll remember that, Mom," James smiled before giving his mother an affectionate kiss. Then he nudged his younger Albus Severus. "So, ya gonna try out for the Ravenclaw Quiddich team this year?" He, himself was a seeker, just as his father had been.

"Actually. . ." Albus trailed off. He wasn't as into sports as his older brother and younger sister, and sometimes that fact worried him.

"What is it?" Mr. Potter asked him.

"Well," Albus began, "quiddich wasn't what I had in mind. I'm more into writing, and Hogwarts started this school paper last year, and. . ."

"You always were a good writer," Mrs. Potter said.

"If that's what you want to do, and it makes you happy," Mr. Potter said. "Then go for it."

"You mean it?" Albus asked.

"Albus, do you remember when you were headed to hogwarts for the first time and I told you that I'd love you no matter which house you got sorted into?" Mr. Potter asked his son. Albus nodded. "And you got sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Griffindor, and I didn't stop loving you. The most important thing is that you be yourself, and if writing is what you're good at, then pursue it."

Just then, the train whistle blew, signaling that everybody should board. Albus gave his father a hug, grabbed his trunk and owl and headed towards the train.

"See ya!" James called, after grabbing up his trunk and his owl.

Lily grabbed her trunk. "I hope I get an owl," she said to her parents.

"Remember the agreement," her father said. "Do well in school and you'll get your own pet as a reward.

"I know," Lily smiled. "And I'll work really hard." With that, she headed aboard the Hogwarts Express.

Once aboard the train, Lily searched for her cousin Hugo, or someone else she might recognize, but at the moment, the train was a sea of unfamiliar faces. She thought she caught a glimpse of James, but he seemed to be busy with a group of other fourth-year students, so she moved on. Finally, she sighed and climbed into an empty compartment. However, she hadn't been sitting there for long before a girl with long blonde hair pulled back in a half-ponytail came to join her.

"Hi!" Lily smiled, happy to have some company. "Is this your first year, too? I'm Lily Potter."

The girl nodded. "I'm Elizabeth Fisher," she said, "but my friends call me Lizzie. Not Liz." She had an accent that suggested she was from the southernmost part of the United States.

"Are you American?" Lily asked, surprised. She had thought that only English witches and wizards attended Hogwarts.

"Yes," Elizabeth said, "I live in Oregon, but I was born in Texas."

"It's nice to meet you," Lily said.

"Nice to meet you," Elizabeth said. "Hey, have you seen a girl a few inches taller than me with long brown hair? She usually wears it in a ponytail, but she could've worn it down today."

"No, I can't say that I have," Lily confessed.

"She said in a letter that she'd see me on the Hogwarts Express, but it's kind of hard to find anybody in the crowd."

"I know what you mean," Lily said.

Just then, there was a knock, and a few seconds later, the girl Elizabeth was describing entered. Her long wavy hair was pulled back in a high ponytail which reached to her waist in its current style. She wore silver hoops in her ears, and a series of silver bracelets on one arm.

"Lily, this is my friend Katy Marovich," Elizabeth introduced her friend. "She has a twin sister named Jessica, but I can usually tell them apart. She's the loud one."

"WHAT!" Katy exclaimed. "I'm NOT loud!"

"I think they heard you back in Portland," Elizabeth laughed. Then she looked at Katy's bracelets. "They'll make you take those off in class," she said.

Lily was looking at Katy's earrings. "You have your ears pierced?" she asked, amazed.

"My mom had them pierced when I was five," Katy explained, as if it wasn't a big deal. "She didn't want me doing it myself like she did. Like I'd willingly inflict pain on myself like that."

Suddenly, the door to their compartment burst open, and two figures burst in, moaning. The three girls screamed.

"Dementors!" Katy shrieked. She'd never actually seen a dementor before.

The two figures began to chuckle, before throwing off their disguises. One of them turned out to be James, while the other turned out to be a boy with light blonde hair.

"JAMES SERIUS POTTER!" Lily shouted. "I'm telling Mom!"

James was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down his cheeks. "You should've seen your face!" he laughed.

Elizabeth was glaring at the other boy. "Eric!" she snapped. "Get out of here!"

"Good LORD!" the boy called Eric mocked in a high-pitched voice. "Get out of here!" he continued in the same voice.

"Stop it!" Elizabeth shouted. "Katy, it's NOT FUNNY!" Behind her, Katy was laughing at Elizabeth's brother's impression of his sister.

"Sorry," Katy said. Then to the boys she said, "You're not wanted here. Get out!" Then with the help of Lily and Elizabeth, the two were shoved out, with the door slammed.

"Brothers!" Lily sighed.

"They can be a pain," Katy agreed. "I've known Eric for as long as I've known Lizzie, and he's so annoying! Every time I talk to Lizzie on the telethrow, he picks up the other end and belches."

"You know it's a telephone," Elizabeth groaned.

"Well, telethrow is what I'd like to do to it sometimes," Katy said.

The three girls spent the rest of the train ride talking about family, the upcoming school year, and anything else they could think of, which made time pass by quickly, and before they knew it, the train reached Hogsmead.

Later, after a boat ride across the lake, everybody gathered in the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. Katy's twin sister Jessica had joined Katy, Lily and Elizabeth. Lily noticed, that unlike her sister, Jessica's hair was done in a French braid, and she wore no jewelry except for a gold pendent around her neck.

Lily waited her turn in line. So far, Elizabeth and Katy were sorted into Griffindor, but Jessica was sorted into Ravenclaw. Finally, it was her turn. Slowly, she made her way onstage and placed the sorting hat on her head.

"Griffindor!" the hat called almost instantly. Lily stepped down from her seat to join Elizabeth and Katy at the Griffindor table.

"...and he's a real nutbag, if you ask me," an older girl was saying to Elizabeth and Katy.

"Who's a nutbag?" Lily wanted to know.

"That dude with the bad perm," Katy said, gesturing to a guy at the faculty table. "His name's Dr. Fink."

"No," Elizabeth corrected. "That's Vink with a va-va-va."

"Anyway," Katy continued, "he's the Potions instructor. Meiling's told me some stories about him." She gestured to the older girl.

"Who's the guy next to him?" Lily wanted to know. "He's kind of cute."

Katy looked at the younger instructor. "Hey, you're right," she said. "I wonder if he's married."

"Katy, we're eleven," Elizabeth reminded her friend.

"It's not illegal to dream," Katy grinned.

"He's new here," Meiling explained, "but I heard he's going to be the new Defense Against The Dark Arts instructor. He has this pet eel that sticks close to him, which means you won't be able to get away with much in his class."

"What do you mean by that?" Elizabeth wanted to know. It never occurred to her to try and get away with anything in class.

"It means that that eel thing of his is a tattletale," Lily explained. She'd heard plenty of things about Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris from her father's days at Hogwarts.

"Shh!" Meiling whispered. "Libeccio's talking."

"Professor Libeccio," a sixth-year girl who was the Griffindor Prefect corrected.

At the Faculty table, Mozenrath sat, bored with all the festivities. He didn't much care who got sorted into what house, or what Professor Libeccio had to say. He was here on a mission, and would do what was necessary to fulfill it.

A/N: A little slow starting, I know. Feel free to review, and offer any suggestions. I'm assuming most readers have read the series, so I'm trying not to bore anybody with things we already know about, like the train ride, or too many details about the Sorting Ceremony, etc. And yes, I have an idea of what Mozenrath could be after, but I'm not going to reveal that yet. Oh, and I thought putting Harry's middle child into Ravenclaw would be a nice twist. K so until next time…


	2. Chapter 2

*******Author's Notes*******

Yes, I did bring in Dr. Vink from the Are You Afraid of the Dark series. I just saw him there so well.

I feel like punching myself for bringing in a relative of Professor McGonagall, but Rowling definitely said that she wouldn't be there by the time Harry's kids are at Hogwarts, and I really wanted to have a stern/strict mistress there. But now I'm being haunted by Ursula's sister because of it. (If you ever saw Little Mermaid 2, you'll know what I'm talking about.) I promise I won't bring in some Snape incarnate, though. But rest assured. I haven't forgotten about photos in the Wizarding World.

Who knows if Fred actually passed over into the Afterlife or stuck around? I figured that some of those who died in the battle in Book 7 would hang around Hogwarts.

It makes sense that Americans can go to Hogwarts, too. I picture it as being better quality than the school in the States. Maybe I'll mention the reasoning behind that in a chapter.

*******End Author's Notes*******

That evening in the girls' dormitory of the Griffindor Tower, Lily, Elizabeth and Katy sat on Elizabeth's bed. "So, have you noticed any cute boys yet?" Katy asked the other two. She was absent-mindedly stroking an orange cat who was lying in her lap and purring.

"Leave it to her to start thinking about boys," Elizabeth sighed.

"That third year boy that sat across from me at dinner was kind of cute," Lily said.

"Oh, he has a girlfriend," Katy said.

"And how do you know this?" Elizabeth asked.

"I saw him totally liplocking with a Hufflepuff girl after dinner."

"Just because they kiss doesn't mean they're going out," Elizabeth said. "Remember two months ago at Jenni's sleepover when you kissed—"

"Lizzie!" Katie exclaimed. "Let's not go there!"

"What's this about?" Lily wanted to know.

"Nothing," Katy said quickly. Then to change the subject she said, "We should start boy books!"

"What's a boy book?" Lily wondered.

"It's where we write down boys we think are cute and compare them every week or so. Katie swears by them," Elizabeth explained.

"Hey, gotta do something until I'm old enough to date," Katy explained.

"So who do you think is cute?" Lily wanted to know.

Katy looked around quickly, then lowered her voice to a whisper. "Professor Shamash."

"He's too old for you," Elizabeth reminded her.

"Who wants a boy my own age?" Katy laughed. "They're all so juvenile."

"I don't know," Lily admitted. "He seems kind of creepy."

"Nah," Katy said, "Professor Nutbag is creepy. Professor Shamash is mysterious."

Just then, the Griffindor Prefect whose name they learned was Emily joined the group. "You three better go to bed," she said.

"We are in bed," Katie said.

"Your own beds," Emily said pointedly. "Professor McGonagall will be along in a few minutes."

"I thought she died," Katie said.

"Weren't you paying attention?" Elizabeth said, "her niece Athena is the head of Griffindor now."

"I remembered her first name," Katie said.

"And she's on her way up here," Emily said. "Besides, the first day is usually pretty stressful for first-years, so I suggest getting some sleep."

"Ok," Katy said, picking up the cat off her lap. "Let's go, Circe." And with that, she climbed into her own bed.

Mozenrath sat in his office with a pile of books and scrolls on his desk. Most of the castle's inhabitants had gone to sleep, but this was the best time for the sorcerer to do research. "Xerxes," he called to his familiar. "What did you uncover?"

The flying eel emerged from another pile of books with a rather old-looking one in his mouth. He dropped it in front of his master. "Found this," he said. The book in question was written in a script known as Ancient Runes. Mozenrath grabbed the book and began studying the title, using another book to help him translate. The sorcerer, though well-versed in languages—a necessary skill when one collects and studies all kinds of magic—was not quite skilled in Ancient Runes. But that soon would change.

"The Tales of Beetle The Bard?" Mozenrath asked after decoding the title of the book. "Xerxes! You imbecile! I'm not here to read fairy tales!" He threw the book at his sidekick, just barely missing the eel's head. The book sailed past and hit the opposite wall. "Now don't interrupt me again unless you find something useful!"

"Sorry, Boss," Xerxes said. He wouldn't have known what the book said, but the weird symbols had suggested to him that the book housed some old magic. But Mozenrath usually knew better than he did. Xerxes flew back into the pile of books and continued his search.

The next day was the usual hustle and bustle of the first day of school. The halls rang with the song of course loads, scheduling conflicts, and potential homework responsibilities.

"I can't believe Professor Binns is still teaching here," Katie said. "I think my grandmother had him."

"I can believe it," Lily said. "My parents said he'd get everybody's names wrong back when they were in school, too."

"Yeah, that's gonna get old real quick," Katy said, irritated.

Just then, the two ran into Elizabeth, who was looking pretty frantic. "I'm glad I finally caught up with you!" she panted. "The walls and stairs have been playing tricks on me ALL MORNING!"

"They'll do that sometimes," said a voice. The three turned to find a ghost hovering overhead.

"Uncle Fred?" Lily asked. She knew it was her uncle, because even in ghost-form, he still carried a resemblance to what her Uncle George might've looked like years ago.

"That would be me," he said. "I hang out here from time to time, but I spend a lot of time at Zonko's Joke Shop in Hogsmeade as well."

"I haven't been there," Katy said, "but I did visit the shop in Diagon Ally. My dad wouldn't let me get some of the stuff there." Katie laughed somewhat mischievously.

"She went back when he let us wander around on our own," Elizabeth explained.

"Tattletale," Katie whispered.

Fred's ghost laughed. "Well, it's good to hear you like the shop so much," he said.

The three girls walked, while Fred hovered overhead, when Lily spotted something. "Hey, isn't that—" she began.

"The portable swamp my brother and I created when we left Hogwarts?" Fred finished for her. "Sure is. And still there after so many years. In Albus's first year at Hogwarts, his older brother dared him to jump in."

"Did he do it?" Elizabeth asked. She didn't think the Swamp was quite deep enough.

"No," Fred said. "There was a crowd around the swamp at the time. They were all waiting for Albus to make the big jump. Athena was passing by, and noticed all the commotion. She sent everybody on their way, deducted points from Griffindor and Ravenclaw, and gave Albus and James each a detention. Watch out for her. She's about as strict as her aunt was."

Suddenly, Katie got very rigid. "DEMENTORS!" she screamed, pointing one direction. Everybody else looked.

"Those aren't dementors," Fred explained. Coming down the hall were about four shambling half dead mamlucks.

"Katie, have you ever even seen a dementor?" Elizabeth wanted to know.

"No, but my brother said that they petrol the halls of Hogwarts sometimes," Katie explained. "He came here for a year while he was in school."

"They don't petrol the halls of Hogwarts," Lily explained. "They guarded the school one year while my parents were in school, but other than that, there haven't been any around here lately."

Katie breathed a sigh of relief. "So then, what ARE those things?"

"Mamlucks!" Xerxes said, flying from behind the undead creatures. "Mozenrath's guards."

"Can he do that?" Katie asked.

"Get to class!" Xerxes barked.

"Who died and put YOU in charge?" Katie demanded, stepping in front of Lily and Elizabeth.

"MOVE!" Xerxes ordered. "Or lose points!"

"Hey, he can't—" Katie began, but Elizabeth put a hand on her arm.

"Let's just go," she said. "Defense of the Dark Arts is next, and I'm pretty sure Professor Shamash doesn't put up with tardiness—or at least, that's what Eric said."

Katie went with Elizabeth and Lily, but not before glaring at Xerxes. She didn't like being told what to do by house elves or familiars.

A few minutes later, the three were seated towards the back of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Elizabeth had wanted to sit up front because she liked sitting closer to the teacher in order to take more accurate notes, but Katie insisted on sitting in the back, and Elizabeth didn't want to sit by herself while she still didn't know a lot of people. She'd finally agreed to sit towards the back as long as Katie didn't talk the entire time.

"My name is Mozenrath," Mozenrath was saying, "but you will refer to me as Professor Shamash. I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher while you're here at Hogwarts. This class won't be easy. In fact, I suggest you study hard, because I don't cut any slack for anybody. Additionally, I don't put up with tardiness, insubordinence, or laziness."

As Mozenrath continued, Katie scribbled a note:

_ [[I don't care for his eel, or his undead guards, but he's still kind of cute. I think I'll enjoy this class.]]_

She passed the note to Lily, who read it and then passed it to Elizabeth, who read it, then on the other side wrote:

_ [[I'm not going to sit by you if you pass notes. I don't think I want to make this guy mad.]]_

She passed the note to Katie.

_ [[You said that I couldn't talk to you in class. You said nothing about passing notes.]]_

"There will be no food, talking, gum-chewing, sleeping, or passing notes—" Mozenrath was saying, when he noticed Katie, who was about to pass a note to Elizabeth. "Miss. . . Marovich?" He had had Jessica earlier that day, so it was easy to remember her name. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

Katie quickly hid the note, and pulled her notebook closer to her. "Taking notes, sir," she lied. "I want to learn everything about this subject, you know."

"Oh, do you really?" Mozenrath smirked. "Then I guess you wouldn't mind helping me with my first demonstration."

"Well, I. . . that is—on the first day of school?" Katie stammered.

"If you love this subject so much, and have been paying attention, then it should be easy," Mozenrath continued to smirk.

Katie hesitated, and looked around. Everybody was looking in her direction, waiting for her to make a move.

"Come up to the front of the room, Miss Marovich," Mozenrath ordered.

Katie took a deep breath and walked to the front of the room. No sooner had she gotten to the front than Mozenrath let a blue and black fireball loose from his gauntlet. Katie swore and hit the ground, the fireball just missing her and setting fire to the wastebasket on the opposite side of the room.

"Not bad," Mozenrath said, extinguishing the flames with his magic. "But I don't allow that language in my class." He sent another blast in Katie's direction. Katie jumped to the left to avoid it, and felt the heat as it sailed past. The rest of the class erupted in applause.

"Return to your seat," Mozenrath told Katie, "and I expect you to write a report on the first five chapters of the textbook by the end of the week."

"But that's not fair!" Katie protested.

"I never said I was fair, did I?" Mozenrath asked.

"I told you not to cross him," Elizabeth said, as the three headed down to the dungeon for Potions.

"He was pretty cruel," Lily said, "assigning you that report out of nowhere like that."

"I don't have problems writing," Katie said. "But five chapters by the end of the week?"

By the way, where'd you learn to move like that?" Lily asked.

"Dodgeball," Katie said, as they entered the Potions room.

"Good Afternoon," Professor Vink said, once he entered the room. "My name's Professor Vink. I'll be teaching you the fine art of Potions. Today, you will learn a simple potion for removing boils, but by the end of the year, you'll learn more advanced concoctions." Then, he looked directly at Lily, Elizabeth and Katie. "And I am NOT a nutbag," he said, before turning to the board to write down the list of ingredients each student would need.

That evening at dinner, Katie helped herself to a third helping of potato salad. Lily and Elizabeth had purposely left her alone all afternoon, so that she could get all that assigned reading done. Her brain was tired, and she was very hungry.

"So your dad comes to speak in the Defense Against The Dark Arts classes sometimes?" Elizabeth was asking.

"He certainly does," Lily confirmed. "In fact, he'll be coming in next Thursday."

"What? Are you serious?" Katie asked through a mouthful of potato salad.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Jessica said, as she walked up to the table. "Hey, Katie, I heard you were passing notes and then said a bad word in Professor Shamash's class."

"Like it's any of your business," Katie said after swallowing her mouthful. "Besides, how did you find out about that?"

"Everybody's talking about how quickly you dodged his attacks, and then when I asked about it, Crystal Garcia—a Slytherin who's friends with Jennifer Montez, who is in classes with you told me what Jennifer told her."

"I'm sure they twisted the whole thing around," Katie said.

"Well, they had their own version, but I do know you. Did you really swear?" Jessica wanted to know.

"It's kind of hard to watch your language when you're being attacked with fire. And blue fire at that," Katie argued.

"Well, we're too young to be using that language," Jessica said.

"Oh, this from the girl who said the same word at our babysitter's two years ago when you got stuck by those nasty blackberry bushes in her back yard and then inadvertently set fire to them. You're lucky she's a squib and knows about magic."

"I was younger then," Jessica said, "and as your older sister, I want to keep you out of trouble."

"Oh, please!" Katie rolled her eyes. "You're only five minutes older than I am."

"Every minute counts," Jessica said smugly.

"Lily, I was going to go study in the library," Elizabeth said as the two sisters continued to bicker. "Wanna come?" She glanced at the two. "Trust me, they'll be busy for awhile."

Lily nodded, and the two headed out of the Great Hall.

"If it isn't the American and her filthy mudblood friend," said a girl with frizzy brown hair and rather large breasts for her age. Another girl, with red hair in the same style was beside her.

"FOR YOUR INFORMATION," Lily said, "neither of my parents are muggles. "She looked at Elizabeth, who was about to say something. "Not that it makes any difference. By the way, what happened to your hair? Have an accident in Potions class?"

"What happened to your face?" the brunet responded, "get attacked by a hippogriff?"

"Now that was lame," Lily said.

"Why don't you leave us alone, Crapstal," Elizabeth said.

"Oh that's original," the redhead said, but the brunet who Elizabeth was addressing looked annoyed.

"And why don't you go back to America with your trashy muggle father where you belong, LIZ?"

Elizabeth looked ready to explode, but by then, Katie and Jessica had finished their argument and came out into the hall.

"Hey, Crystal, nice boobs!" she said. "Are they silicon, or did you use magic?"

"What's sillycone?" Crystal asked, glaring at Katie. Beside her, the redhead who was the infamous Jennifer began to laugh until Crystal swatted her.

"Ok, take it to your common rooms," said an elderly witch, walking up the hall.

"I'm sorry, Miss McGonagall," Katie said, "we were just headed that way when—"

"That's Professor to you, Miss Marovich," she corrected. "Miss Garcia, Miss Montez. Don't forget you two have detention with me in an hour."

"Oh, we haven't forgotten," Crystal said, in a tone that was both mocking and kissing up. Together, she and Jennifer walked off.

"I wonder what they did," Katie said.

"I think you'd better worry about that report," Professor McGonagall said.

"I'm on it," Katie said, as she headed off. She liked and respected this professor, and didn't see any need to argue.

"We better head off as well," Elizabeth said. "I wanted to study in the library for a bit."

"Just stay away from the Forbidden section," Professor McGonagall advised. "Some of those books can be pretty dangerous, especially for first-year students."

"Oh, we will," Lily said as the two headed off.

"This way," Elizabeth said to Lily as the two walked down an aisle and turned to their right.

"Lizzie!" Lily gasped. "Be careful! We're too close to the Forbidden books."

"Oh, trust me, we're not going there," Elizabeth assured her. "I don't wanna get attacked by some random curse, or thrown in detention."

"Yeah," Lily said, "both are equally bad."

"The book I'm looking for is just near here, but I'm not going any further," Elizabeth explained. "Ah! There it is!" Elizabeth picked up the book in question.

"Hey, what's Xerxes doing over there?" Lily asked, pointing. Sure enough, Xerxes was flying around the Forbidden section.

"I don't know," Elizabeth said. "He's always sneaking around, it seems. Maybe he's just making sure we don't go over there. The two headed off to check out their books.

Xerxes flew from aisle to aisle. He'd seen the redhead and blonde from earlier, but thankfully, that mouthy brunette wasn't with them. The redhead had looked right at him, whispering something to the blonde, but the two had walked away. Did they suspect him? He'd better hide in one of the shelves until the coast was clear. Quickly, he darted into a gap between two books. Unfortunately, in the process, he'd knocked one book off the shelf. The book began to scream a loud, piercing scream as it hit the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

*******Author's Notes*******

Sorry it's been awhile since my last update. School, homework, midterms, finals, life, 'nuff said. I will try to do one more update before school starts in January, but I can't promise anything.

And, Katie was born in America, though her father came from a href=.org/wiki/CroatiaCroatia,/a hence the last name. My theory is that whatever Witchcraft and Wizarding school in Salem might not be the best school, given that from what I know, it would be harder to hide from the Muggle world, so some Wizarding parents are sending their children abroad for their education. (If anybody is from that part of the country, feel free to share your knowledge about that area. I always like learning new things.)

Pretty soon, we'll find out what Mozenrath is looking for, if you aren't able to guess.

*******End Author's Notes*******

Several students rushed to see what the scream was all about. In all the commotion, Xerxes quickly flew off, seemingly unnoticed.

"What was that?" several students were asking.

"Do you think it was Peeves again?" somebody else in the crowd wanted to know.

"No, I saw him writing dirty poems in the lavatory," her friend replied.

"Who could've caused—" somebody else began.

"Alright! That'll be enough milling about the Forbidden section!" A ghost who was Irma Pince during her life commanded. Ms. Pince had passed away just five years before, but refused to move on, for fear that nobody else could protect the library books as well as she.

"But Miss Pince," said a Hufflepuff girl named Ashlee. "Something was in the Forbidden section!"

"I am aware of that," Ms. Pince said, "and I will deal with it. Now everybody, move along!"

The group dispersed with many questions about the disturbance.

"Should we tell her what we saw?" Lily was asking Elizabeth.

"Maybe later," Elizabeth said. "She looked pretty mad."

"Ok, but if we're asked…" Lily said.

Mozenrath had been passing the library when he'd heard a piercing scream from the library. Next, several students had rushed in through the door as Xerxes rushed out, unnoticed by all the chaos.

"Mozenr—" Mozenrath clamped a hand over Xerxes' mouth and hurried off with him.

"What did you find?" he demanded, once the two were in his office.

"Screaming book," Xerxes answered. "Girls saw me."

"Which girls?" Mozenrath shook his sidekick.

"Friends of mouthy girl," Xerxes said. He couldn't remember names yet.

Mozenrath wasn't sure which "mouthy girl" Xerxes was referring to—he'd dealt with a couple throughout the day, and all of them had a friend or two. It was usually the way things like that worked. The leader of such groups would say something cocky or clever while the rest of the group would either laugh or encourage their fearless leader to back off a bit. "Was it just her friends?" Mozenrath asked. Xerxes nodded. "And did you happen to see the book that caused the commotion?" Xerxes shook his head. "No doubt the book had a special charm against intruders," Mozenrath mused. "Books like that usually hold valuable spells." Mozenrath grinned as he let his sidekick go. Maybe he'd have more help finding what he needed than he'd originally anticipated.

"You mean Xerxes started all that commotion?" Katie was asking.

"We didn't say that," Elizabeth said, "we just said that we saw him before we heard that scream."

"It had to have been him," Katie said. A smile spread across her face.

"Katie," Elizabeth gave her friend a warning look, but Katie wasn't paying attention. She was busy searching for something in her trunk, where she pulled out something long and flesh-coloured.

"Hey your dad said you couldn't buy those!" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Extendable ears!" Lily recognized the item right away.

"Let's spy on Mozenrath!" Katie was still grinning.

"No!" Elizabeth said. "And it's Professor Shamash."

"C'mon, Lizzie," Katie begged.

"We'll get caught," Elizabeth argued.

"Not unless we have a cloak of invisibility," Lily grinned.

"Lily, do you have one?" Katie wanted to know.

"No, but my brother does," Lily said.

"Will he let us borrow it," Katie said, unsure that James would.

"I'll ask him," Lily said.

"So, are you in, Lizzie?" Katie asked. "I won't make you do something you don't want to do, but you need more adventure in your life."

"I'll think about it," Elizabeth said. "If Lily can get that cloak, then maybe."

Katie couldn't believe her ears. "Are you serious?" she asked, excited.

"No, Katie," Elizabeth said sarcastically. "I just thought I'd take up lying to see how fun it is."

Later, Lily approached her brother, who was sitting with Eric Fisher. Both were talking in low whispers, but jumped up, grabbing books and pretended they were reading when they saw her approaching.

"James," Lily asked, "can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," James said, "what's up, Little Sister?" he asked.

"Alone," Lily said pointedly, looking at Eric.

"Hey, anything you can say in front of me, you can say in front of Eric," James grinned at his little sister.

"This is a family thing," Lily said. She wasn't fond of Eric so far.

"Fine, I can take a hint," Eric said, getting up and heading out of the room.

"So what's the big secret?" James asked once Eric was out of earshot.

"My friends and I need to borrow something from you," Lily said.

"And what might that be?" James wanted to know.

"You have Dad's invisibility Cloak, right?" Lily asked. "I know you do—Albus told me about the time when you two—"

"That whole thing was Scorpius' idea!" James said defensively.

"Relax," Lily said, "I haven't told anybody."

"You just keep it that way," James said, crossing his arms.

"Anyway, can we borrow it?"

"By 'we' who do you mean?" James asked, though he knew perfectly well who Lily was referring to.

"Me, Elizabeth and Katie," Lily said.

"The Cloak of Invisibility is not for spying on the boys you fancy," James said.

"We're not going to spy on boys," Lily said, exasperated.

"Then what else would you need it for?"

"I don't think I can tell you."

"Then I don't think I can let you borrow it." James got up and started to walk out of the room.

"Hey!" Lily followed after him. "Do you swear not to tell anyone?"

"Lily, you should know me better than that! I may be a troublemaker, but I'm not a tattletale."

"Lizzie and I were right near the Forbidden section of the library just before the commotion," Lily explained. "We saw Xerxes flying in and out of book cases rather suspiciously—"

"So you plan on spying on Professor Shamash to see what he's up to," James finished for her.

Lily nodded.

"I must say," James said, grinning, "I am proud of you. Getting into mischief just like your big brother."

"We're not—" Lily started to protest.

"Going against Hogwarts rules, sneaking about. Well, I guess you are a Potter."

A half an hour later, Lily returned with the Invisibility Cloak, and a worn-out-looking scroll that her brother had also given her.

"Is that instructions on how to use the cloak?" Katie wanted to know. She'd thought a cloak-of-anything would be pretty simple to use.

"No, it's even better than that," Lily smiled. "James was all for our plan, and gave me this." She held out the piece of paper.

"The Marauder's Map?" Elizabeth read.

"With this, we'll know where Professor Shamash is at all times. It also shows secret passages."

"Ooo! Let me see that!" Katie reached for the map and looked at it, impressed. "Looks like it shows everybody's names and—" she gasped in shock. "What the hell is my sister's name doing so close to Jeremiah Miller's? I can't stand him!"

"So?" Elizabeth asked. "Your sister's allowed to have her own friends."

"Yeah," Katie said, "but someone might think it's me talking to him. Two professors called me Jessica today, and I don't appreciate—"

"The issue at hand?" Lily interrupted.

"Right." Katie said, looking at the map again. "Looks like Moz—I mean, Professor Shamash is in his office right now. I'm guessing, from the way that Xerxes' name just flew across that space, either the dumb eel likes flying into things, or Professor 'Shamash is pretty ticked."

"Let's go!" Lily said, and the three huddled together so that they could fit under the cloak.

Back in his office, Mozenrath was going over the list of his students. "James Serius Potter," he read. "He was quite the comic relief during class." He put a check next to his name. "Lily Luna Potter?" He thought for a minute. No doubt she was related to this James Serius, but he couldn't recall any trouble from her. Still, if she was related to one of the troublemakers, then she would be useful. "I've spent years collecting magic, Xerxes," he told his sidekick. "I became the most powerful sorcerer of our own time. But it seems the artifacts that contain the most magic are found in this world. Once I find what I'm looking for, I'll rule the Seven Deserts and not even that streetrat and his prissy princess or his pathetic sidekicks will be able to stop me."

"Mozenrath win," Xerxes said, hovering close by.

"That's right, Xerxes," he said, "and I have my pick of wizards in training to help me."

Xerxes made another lap around the room, but stopped when he noticed something sticking out from under the door. "Mozenrath!" he called, pulling at the flesh-coloured thread.

"What is it, Xerxes?" Mozenrath asked, rushing to the door. "Well well well," It looks like we have company," he said, yanking at the extendable ear.


End file.
